The concept of a stepping motor is that it may be incrementally moved, or "stepped" in a series of increments with each increment of travel being determined by a discrete unit of electrical input. The increments can be counted by digital circuitry, such as computer controlled circuitry, to determine the cumulative distance travelled by a stepping motor and thus its instantaneous position at any instant. Stepping motors are thus particularly advantageous to use for the implementation of computer controlled manipulation of real world objects, such as is often necessary in robotics. Thus stepping motor controllers are often utilized in robotic applications under the control of a microprocessor or a computer.